Applied Learning Programme Alp at JWSS
Harnessing Technology in Authentic Contexts
Introduction
Inundated with technology, we can choose to be the creators or the consumers – to control technology or to be controlled by technology. The pervasiveness of technology in many aspects of our lives is not something that requires reiteration. As described in the Smart Nation Initiative, “smartness” is not a measure of how advanced or complex the technology being adopted is, but how well a society uses technology to solve its problems and address existential challenges. In a digital age, technological disruptions are common and our daily experiences, due to the affordances of technology, are vastly different from the past. As such, we have to ride this wave such that we enable technology to work well for us and enrich our lives.
At Jurong West Secondary School, as part of the Applied Learning Programme (ALP), students are the creators of digital artefacts, to advocate the authentic context they are passionate about. These digital artefacts are:
- Digital posters,
- Applications which are mobile or Augmented Reality (AR) in nature,
- Solutions leveraging microcontrollers.
ALP @ JWSS is designed to allow students to advocate ideas, create and present innovative ICT-based solutions to social issues. Harnessing technology, students embark on projects that require the application of design thinking and computational thinking as they connect knowledge across subject disciplines, stretch their imagination and apply knowledge to real-world problems.
These authentic contexts allow for deeper and more meaningful learning as the students explore and discuss issues that are relevant to them. Grounded in student-centricity, ALP @ JWSS also aims to allow students to discover their strengths and develop their passion to analyse and evaluate real-world issues and be co-creators of diverse and feasible solutions to contribute to their communities.
Our Two-Tier Approach
ALP @ JWSS is a two-tiered programme which uses Project Work as a platform to integrate existing aspects of the Art, English Language and InfoComm Technology curricula. In Secondary One and Two, students will be equipped with the relevant knowledge, skills, values and attitudes in these areas.
As another exciting aspect of the ALP@JWSS, students have a choice to select the digital mode that they prefer to work with:
• Application Development with Augmented Reality (AD-AR),
• Mobile Application Development, or
• Micro:bits Physical Computing
Based on their choice, students undergo customised training to enable them to develop their product.
A Multitude of Opportunities (2016 - 2022)
ALP Presentation to Second Minister for Finance and Education
In July, our students had the privilege of presenting their solutions to Second Minister for Finance and Education, Ms Indranee Rajah, who visited our school to understand more about our ALP and lauded the students for their innovation solutions to issues such as terrorism, senior care and bullying. Our students also received letters of commendation and gifts from the Ministry of Home Affairs for their stop motion production on counter-terrorism.
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 Our students presenting their solution that leverages on stop-motion to combat terrorism |  Ms Indranee exploring the game created to heighten awareness of what constitutes bullying and the right steps to overcome it |
 Ms Indranee and the team posing with the Micro:Bit that would enable timely elderly-caregiver communication. The device is developed in consideration of the needs and mindset of the elderly towards assistive technology and the multiple roles a caregiver plays. |  |
 | The Ministry of Home Affairs recognised our students’ project and awarded them with a letter of commendation for their stop motion production on counter-terrorism. |
ALP Showcase at the Singapore Youth Festival Celebrations
At the Singapore Youth Festival Celebrations in July, students presented their solutions to the community as well as MP Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar and empowered the intergenerational crowd to apply elements of art and principles of design to advocate for a social cause that they are passionate about.
With MP Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar after the presentation Awakening the Digital ARTvocate in You
The team demonstrating, to Dr Intan and the community, how the knowledge and skills of
ICT, English and Art are applied to create powerful advocacy messages
ALP beyond the Classroom
The ALP provides numerous exciting opportunities to explore learning outside the classroom where there is a whole host of prospects to engage our learners in meaningful experimentation, nurturing their imagination and creativity.
IMDA Lab on Wheels@JWSS
The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) Labs on Wheels were at JWSS over the span of three days, approximately 400 students and teachers visited the buses and all Secondary Two students attended exclusive workshops conducted by the IMDA instructors during the Applied Learning Programme (ALP) lessons.
The IMDA Lab on Wheels is a Mobile Fabrication and Technology Showcase bus that travels to schools to provide fun, engaging and experiential learning to excite students about technology. On board the buses, JWSS students had their hands-on experience with a plethora of cutting-edge technologies, including robotics, Virtual Reality, drones and 3D modelling and printing. In addition, the Secondary Two students learnt to programme an orb-shaped robot – Sphero – to ‘dance’ to a tune, flashing lights and spinning and moving rhythmically.
Here, a student is exploring music creation with a drum machine programmed with MaKey MaKey and Scratch
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| Many students and teachers tried Virtual Reality (VR) for the first time | Students working collaboratively as they tried to ‘choreograph’ the Sphero bots’ dance moves |
Learning Journey (LJ) to the ArtScience Museum: Future World
In this LJ, students are immersed in a digital world where art meets science. Students experience for themselves the sensors and algorithm that make the interactive exhibits possible. Students witness for themselves how innovation and the aesthetics interplay.
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| Students planning and drawing items to help build a virtual town | A student trying out one of the interactive artworks at the museum |
ALP Showcase@JWSS
The students’ two-year journey on the ALP culminates in an exhibition where students showcase and present their ICT-based solutions which come in varied digital modes to the rest of the school.
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| Secondary One students trying their hands at the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil | A group of Secondary 2 students demonstrating how videography with Chroma Key effect is being produced |
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| A group of Secondary 2 students demonstrating how a Stop-Motion Animation with Chroma Key effect is being produced | |
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| Azura from Secondary 2N2 presenting her group’s Digital Illustration created with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil | Students from Hong Kong trying their hands at creating an animation using Adobe Animate CC and a Wacom pen tablet |